High-Tech Urban Farming Could be The Future of Agriculture in Australia

The adoption of emerging technologies in Australian agriculture is expanding at a greater rate than the consumer's capacity to understand the opportunities.

FREMONT CA: The Opportunities for High Technology Horticulture in Australia report, commissioned by Hort Innovation and developed by agricultural consultancy RMCG in collaboration with University of Technology Sydney (UTS) and global urban agriculture consultancy Agritecture, considers effective urban farming applications being used overseas in the Australian context.

It has offered a number of recommendations to increase the approach's practicality, including developing producer capacity and increasing societal acceptance through community participation. Modular Farms Co in Brisbane, Eden Towers in Perth, and Vertical Farm Systems on the Sunshine Coast are among the cities that have begun to sprout urban farms.

Dr Vino Rajandran, Hort Innovation's research and development manager, said high-tech urban farming is a growing element of Australia's horticulture business. There is a shift in interest despite Australia's low adoption of these new high-tech production processes compared to Asia, North America, and Europe.

As Australia's climate changes, customer demand for locally grown goods rises, and the importance of sustainable production rise, technology-controlled local production systems are garnering more interest. High-tech urban horticulture systems, according to Dr. Rajandran, are a logical complement to traditional horticulture production systems, and the new industry will need to define its value proposition in the Australian setting.

High-tech horticulture has advantages over traditional field production in that it can be climate controlled and production is not limited to specific seasons. However, issues such as high land prices in urban areas and the large investment necessary to erect glasshouses inside or on top of buildings drive up costs.

In context to social, financial, and environmental performance, we discovered that the building facade, followed by a rooftop glasshouse using a vertical production system, was the best performing high-technology solution for Australian circumstances. The success of individual enterprises is also heavily dependent on the product line chosen, the business model used, and the farm manager's skill and aptitude. High-tech horticulture, like any other agricultural enterprise, necessitates careful planning and management.